Karnataka Assembly clears 12 bills, including Greater Bengaluru Governance Second Amendment Bill

Belagavi (Karnataka), Dec 16 (PTI) The state Assembly on Tuesday passed 12 bills, including the Greater Bengaluru Governance (Second Amendment) Bill.

The Greater Bengaluru Bill makes provisions for all MPs and MLAs who stay in the state capital and are on the electoral roll in the city to be members of the Greater Bengaluru Authority.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who holds the Bengaluru development portfolio, said, "The public representatives who are voters here (Bengaluru) were omitted. We are including Rajya Sabha member Sudha Murty, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and some areas of Chikkaballapura Lok Sabha constituency, represented by Dr K Sudhakar, come under the GBA. They will be the members of the GBA. So this amendment is about that." He said the amendment also makes the Chief Secretary, Urban Development Principal Secretary and Finance Department Secretary members of GBA.

BJP's S Suresh Kumar sought to know whether voting rights in two places will be allowed if the public representatives in GBA may be voters in other corporations as well.

To this, Shivakumar said there will be no election system in the GBA.

"It's a body to frame policies," the Deputy CM explained.

The objects and reasons of the Karnataka Rent (Amendment) Bill say that it has been introduced to achieve the principle of "Minimum Government Maximum Governance" by decriminalisation minor offences and rationalization of monetary penalties as envisaged in the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of provisions) Act, 2023.

The amendment says that if any landlord or tenant fails to present copy of the lease agreement for registration as required under clauses (a) or (b) of sub-section (3) of Section 4 or fails to file the particulars as required under the proviso thereto, he shall on conviction be punishable with a fine up to Rs 2,000 or with simple imprisonment for a month or both.

The same is applicable to middlemen involved in it.

The other bills that were cleared are the Karnataka Land Revenue (Second Amendment) Bill, The Greater Bengaluru Governance (Second Amendment) Bill, Sri Malai Mahadeshwaraswamy Kshethra Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, The Chandraguthi Shree Renukamba Kshetra Development Authority Bill and Shree Chamundeshwari Kshetra Development Authority and Certain Other Laws (Amendment) Bill.

The Karnataka Cine and Cultural Activists (Welfare) (Amendment) Bill, Karnataka Labour Welfare Fund (Amendment) Bill, Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowment (Amendment) Bill, Karnataka State Universities (Second Amendment) Bill, Bayaluseeme Development Board (Amendment) Bill and Malnad Area Development Board (Amendment) Bill were also cleared. PTI GMS KH